Pirates Moving NYPL Team to Jamestown

The Pittsburgh Pirates will be moving their New York-Penn League affiliate to Jamestown, according to Guy Cipriano. We heard yesterday that the State College Spikes had signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, ending the relationship with the Pirates.

Earlier today, Rob Biertempfel mentioned that a deal was in place with Jamestown, and that Jamestown has applied with the NYPL for permission to relocate. The Pirates could move the team to Morgantown as early as 2014.

Cory Giger, who broke the news of a potential split earlier in the year, spoke with Frank Coonelly about the situation. Giger reports that Coonelly said the team wasn’t mad about Spikes’ GM Jason Dambach’s comments about the team wanting to win. He did add that the comments made the team start to re-evaluate their relationship with State College. The Pirates were committed to staying in State College for four more years before the comments, according to Giger, but only two after the comments.

The two sides apparently couldn’t come to an agreement when State College wanted four years and the Pirates wanted two years.

Tim Williams

Tim is the owner and editor in chief of Pirates Prospects. He started the site in January 2009, and turned it into his full time job during the 2011 season. Prior to starting Pirates Prospects, Tim worked with AccuScore.com, providing MLB, NHL, and NFL coverage to various national media outlets, including ESPN Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Sports, and the Wall Street Journal. He also writes the annual Prospect Guide, which is sold through the site. Tim lives in Bradenton, where he provides live coverage all year of Spring Training, mini camp, instructs, the Bradenton Marauders, and the GCL Pirates.

Since I work in Morgantown, I was very excited to hear they wanted to build a new ballpark not only for WVU, but also for short season A ball. If the Pirates make this move, that will be icing on the cake. Yet another huge benefit for the community because of WVU’s move to the Big 12.